{"id":55087,"date":"2019-05-07T13:12:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T10:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55087"},"modified":"2022-11-29T16:13:15","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T14:13:15","slug":"ehud-and-eglon-biblical-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ehud-and-eglon-biblical-comedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ehud And Eglon \u2013 Biblical Comedy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[475,551],"acf":{"old_id":"55087","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":55057,"related_cahpter":"214","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Including one very fat calf to be sacrificed","content":"

The story that appears in <\/span>Chapter 3 verses 12-30, might be an example of Biblical comedy at its subtle best. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s begin with Ehud, the man appointed by God to save the Israelites from King Eglon. Ehud is described as being from the tribe of Benjamin, as well as being left-handed. It\u2019s unusual enough to give a Biblical character\u2019s handedness \u2013 but here\u2019s the comedic part: He is a left-handed man who is from the tribe of the \u201cson of the right\u201d (side, or hand). In fact, some translate the name of the tribe to mean the \u201cson of the right hand.\u201d And so our left-handed man is a son of the right side\/hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Left-handedness, by the time of the Latin language, comes to be associated with sinister behavior. This was not known in biblical times \u2013 or was it? By being left handed, Ehud strapped his sword on his right side. When he arrived at the palace to deliver a \u201cmessage\u201d to King Eglon, the guards patted him down only on the left side, the location of a sword for a right-handed person. Was security lax? Probably not; the guards would never have conceived of a left-handed person in their midst.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Eglon, his very name is the source of humor. It shares its root with that for \u201ccalf\u201d (as in the <\/span>egel masechah<\/span><\/em>, the molten calf of Exodus) and more specifically refers to a \u201cfattened calf.\u201d Eglon is described as a \u201cvery stout man.\u201d Of course, a calf is one of the animals used for the sacrifices, and an offering was never made with a gaunt animal \u2013 that would have been an offense to God. Instead, one took the healthy or stout or fattened calf when making such a sacrifice. When Ehud kills Eglon, the King becomes the sacrifice in Ehud\u2019s effort to free the Israelites from Eglon\u2019s tyrannical rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

Had the death simply been described as Ehud plunging the sword into the King\u2019s belly, we would have been spared the gruesome, and some might say humorous, details. Instead, the text tells us that after Ehud plunged the sword in the King\u2019s stomach, \u201cthe fat closed over the blade and the hilt [handle] went in after the blade.\u201d Eglon was <\/span>so<\/span><\/i> fat that his body consumed the entire sword.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is one other subtle note of humor in the story: Eglon\u2019s oppressive rule over the Israelites lasts 18 years, a number which represents life and all that is life-affirming for Jews. Clearly, his rule was anything but life affirming.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":55088,"id":55088,"title":"jud3-calf","filename":"jud3-calf.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud3-calf.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ehud-and-eglon-biblical-comedy\/jud3-calf\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud3-calf","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55087,"date":"2019-05-07 10:11:32","modified":"2022-10-03 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